New Dingo Kit

[n8racer]

Hey Guys, New here and crawlers, but not to RC. I've been in the hobby for over 6 years I have built several kits from onroad to Short course. I have built an Axial EXO Terra kit so not new to Axial. Anyway I got a new Dingo kit for Christmas I'll be running a Hobbywing 35T crawler brushless system, Savox MG servo with 266 oz. and a Spektrum DX2S with a 2s 5000 LIPO. Any build tricks or tips before I start the build that are not in the instructions (I'm sure there are some) it would be most appreciated! Looking forward to this new phase in my hobby and making new friends over here!

[meatmonkey]

My most basic assembly tips would be to:

JB weld the "sintered" lockers to the plastic diff cups so they don't get sloppy and potentially break the ears off the locker allowing it to just spin inside the cup.

Refuse to use most of the included coarse thread self tapping hardware on anything that is important, mainly on the axles and suspensions. Especially on the kingpin bolts. Get yourself some 3mmx.5mmx10mm for those. You'll have to check the manual to see what other sizes you'll need. I found it ridiculous how many screws I had left over after assembling my SCX JK with my idea of "proper" bolts.

Get some 5mmx7mmx.1mm washers to shim the transmission input shaft and axle pinions to eliminate excessive slop in those. You'll be rewarded with a quieter running, longer lasting drivetrain. Seems the tolerances on the transmission are gettting so bad that if you just throw it together the spur can walk halfway off of the pinion in either direction, not acceptable to me.

Make sure you use loc-tite on the transmission output shaft bolts. They are notorious for loosening up on the RTR's. Also be sure to loc-tite the driveshaft through-pins.

Use the longest bolts you can on the servo mounting plate to the axle mounting posts. This helps eliminate the flex that shows up when using a high torque servo.

I personally drilled small holes in the trans case and axle housings, then put in a grub screw. This allows me to use a needle fitting on a grease gun to purge out the old grease/water/gunk after playing submarine.

Your going to find that you have to do some dremel work on the chassis brace in front of the servo, as well as to the forward reaching "legs" on the cross-brace behind the servo, to keep them from interfering with the servo and horn during articulation. Once you have it all together it will be obvious what needs to be trimmed.

Lastly, don't get sucked into the UPGRADE mindset. Just play/abuse it stock to understand its behavior and limitations. How you use the truck will determine what, if anything, needs to be replaced. I've been hammering my JK for almost three monthes now, even letting rookies and kids play with it, and only twisted one stock drive shaft (comes with spares, sweet) and rounded out the hex on a wheel (good excuse to get Motoworx wheels).

[n8racer]

Thank you meatmonkey for all the tips. I will look into everyone as I start my build. I agree on upgrades I upgrade as I see a need in my particular situations. I will probably just focus on making my rig more scale looking to begin with and if I break or see a performance needed upgrade then I'll make that call! I appreciate your input!!!